My Journey to 50 miles (2nd attempt)... (comments welcome)

[disneygpa]

Sunday's trail run. 14 miles.... Longest run since Dopey 2020. And it feels like it was the longest run!

Pretty happy with this effort. It was cold, wet, slick and wonderful!! I was able to run "most" of the first 3 miles which is almost constant uphill. Albeit pretty slowly. From mile 3 to 4 is a steep descent (chinscraper downhill) which was a relief after the uphill effort. Then at mile 5 ish I made a wrong turn on the trail and ended up on an old logging road. Since I hadn't hiked this portion of the trail I wasn't familiar with it and in my brain it seemed like the right way to go. After not seeing Lost Lake at mile 6 I decided I'd definitely made a mistake. But by that point it seemed too late to turn back. I did end up turning back at 6.5 miles because the logging road side of the mountain was becoming dense with fog. Not that I run fast enough to run off the edge, but I wasn't comfortable with possibly missing my trail on the return trip.

Anyway, turned around and headed back from mile 9 to 10 is the infamous "chinscraper". It's flat out STEEP!! You almost have to be on your hands and feet going up. I walked the entire mile up. After reaching the top again, I started the 3 mile descent. Running down was another adventure. The rain had started back up and it was a steady stream of water in the uncovered portion of the trail. Almost went down a few times but was able to stay upright. Garmin got lost on the way down again. I'm not so sure the times for those miles are accurate. Especially the last mile. It certainly didn't feel like a 16 min mile and it was all on the mostly flat interurban part of the trail.

Legs were definitely tired after this trip. 4200ft of elevation gain is no joke. I need to figure out a way to stretch at the trailhead. Maybe putting down the backseat of the car and giving that a shot. It was raining too dang hard to try and do it next to the car. PNW winters. Everything in your life is constantly wet.

Feeling pretty good today. A little stiff and sore but not anything crazy.

Question: does anyone that reads this run with compression sleeves on their legs? I was doing some reading and some people say they help with fatigue. Though I couldn't find any science to back that up. Thinking I might try them for the next trail run.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great job on the run. You're eating elevation for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner....

Question: does anyone that reads this run with compression sleeves on their legs? I was doing some reading and some people say they help with fatigue. Though I couldn't find any science to back that up. Thinking I might try them for the next trail run.

Last I checked, which was a few years ago, the research showed no measurable benefit to any physiological parameter for using compression sleeves during running. But there was a benefit in performance in some. It was hypothesized to be a placebo/mental effect where the wearer believes it is doing something and thus provides a mental stimulus that it is. Conversely there is debate as to whether the research just hasn't found the correct parameter to evaluate to determine the use of compressions sleeves during running. So I'd say the answer is mixed, but if you try it and feel like it does something, then keep doing it.

Now secondarily, the research is quite good to show that compression sleeves work well for post-run recovery. There's far less debate about that subject and it is much more accepted.

 

[disneygpa]

Great job on the run. You're eating elevation for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner....



Last I checked, which was a few years ago, the research showed no measurable benefit to any physiological parameter for using compression sleeves during running. But there was a benefit in performance in some. It was hypothesized to be a placebo/mental effect where the wearer believes it is doing something and thus provides a mental stimulus that it is. Conversely there is debate as to whether the research just hasn't found the correct parameter to evaluate to determine the use of compressions sleeves during running. So I'd say the answer is mixed, but if you try it and feel like it does something, then keep doing it.

Now secondarily, the research is quite good to show that compression sleeves work well for post-run recovery. There's far less debate about that subject and it is much more accepted.

Thanks Billy. I should have taken the sleeves with me, but I left them at home. As soon as I got home and showered I put them on for the rest of the day. Definitely seems to help with recovery. I may give them a shot on the next trail run and see if I feel any difference.

 

[disneygpa]

This has been a crazy crazy crazy week so far... Let's start with the running which has been really good!

Monday 2.5 EA miles. Legs were definitely feeling the 14 miles from Sunday. Started off a little stiff and sore, but by about half a mile everything felt pretty good.



Tuesday- After a pretty bummer week last week for Donna, we got back out and did 2.6 pain free miles! We are going to try and bump that up to 3 today and see how she's feeling.


Wednesday- 8 miles FF. This run was great! Quads were still a little sore, but didn't bother me.
For some reason my VO2 is dropping. Bummer. I was thinking during this run about how I dreaded doing 8 miles the first time I saw it on my training plan. (probably my Dopey plan) And now how I see 8 miles and I just shrug and slip on my shoes. I'm really happy with the progress I've made and continue to make. I'll never win a race, not even in my age group. But since I'm really only racing myself.... I don't mind.



Ok. On to why this week has been crazy. Well, our house isn't currently on the market. But, my son-in-law received an inquiry about it because it was on the market last year. Anyway, an agent had a buyer for us and they asked if we'd be interested in showing the house on Sunday. We said sure, let's see what they offer. Well, after a small negotiation we came to an agreement and they bought our house. CRAZY!!! And to make things even crazier, they want to close on the 25th of this month. It's been a mad scramble to find a place to move into until next year when I retire. Shipping one of our vehicles to FL for the kids. Still don't know how we are getting our stuff to our new place or what our move in date will be! Yikes!! I'm not good with not knowing things. So I've been sleeping like crap and thinking too much.

Anyway, I'm sure it'll all work itself out. But, I'll stress about it until it's done.

 

[shellott-hill]

What a whirlwind! Crazy and exciting all at once. My OCD is kicking in just reading your post.

All I can offer is that I find running is my therapy for crazy and stressful events....lean into that.

I am sure it will all work out. Best of luck.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Ok. On to why this week has been crazy. Well, our house isn't currently on the market. But, my son-in-law received an inquiry about it because it was on the market last year. Anyway, an agent had a buyer for us and they asked if we'd be interested in showing the house on Sunday. We said sure, let's see what they offer. Well, after a small negotiation we came to an agreement and they bought our house. CRAZY!!! And to make things even crazier, they want to close on the 25th of this month. It's been a mad scramble to find a place to move into until next year when I retire. Shipping one of our vehicles to FL for the kids. Still don't know how we are getting our stuff to our new place or what our move in date will be! Yikes!! I'm not good with not knowing things. So I've been sleeping like crap and thinking too much.

Exciting and crazy!

 

[disneygpa]

The weekend was a little rough.

Took Friday off of work because the trucking company was picking up my daughters truck to ship to FL. That went smooth and easy. Guys that picked it up were quick, understanding about the sentimental value of the vehicle and on their way without any problems.

After the truck was out of the garage, I started packing up my tools and getting things organized to go to temporary storage.

In that process I went to collapse my Little Giant ladder. If your not familiar with them, they are extendable and are super convenient. Every home owner should consider them in my opinion. Anyhoo... I dropped the inner part of the ladder down to collapse it and it came down on my foot like a guillotine. This hurt something terrible and I made several loops around the garage muttering a few expletive's. After that I sat down and pulled off my shoe and sock to see what was already beginning to be a nasty looking bruise forming slightly toward the arch behind the knuckle of the toe next to my little toe.

There is minimal swelling and the bruise is now spreading. Decided to not run on Saturday to give it a break. Tested it out on Sunday with a short run/walk with Donna. It seems to be ok. There's no pain when running and it's only a little tender to the touch on top where the ladder hit. I'm going to do my 5 EA miles tonight and see how it goes.

Seems to be ok.

Packing went well. I have most of my tools packed and we are making great progress on what goes to storage and what is going to our apartment. We probably won't be making the move to FL until next summer (2022) so some things will be put away until then.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Oh no! Take care of yourself!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Yes, take care of yourself. Hopefully it heals up quickly.

 

[disneygpa]

Oh no! Take care of yourself!

Yes, take care of yourself. Hopefully it heals up quickly.

Thanks! Seems to be ok. Still a little bruised and tender to touch the impact area. All in all I'm feeling pretty lucky about it, I think it could have been much worse!

Wednesdays run. 8 miles M Tempo. Gosh I like these runs. I'm feeling more and more comfortable at M paces, the effort almost feels "easy" at least with the RI in between each mile.


I forgot to program the run into my Garmin so I was kinda winging it. The overall effort was consistent with the plan and looking at the graphs I was definitely in the ballpark of my pacing.

@DopeyBadger Billy, I'm switching back to the original training plan. My travel dates to FL have been changed because of the house sale. So I'll be able to do my trail run on the 28th as originally planned. We will now be in FL the 5th-14th of March. I should be able to get all my runs in, even with the travel. I didn't think that would be a problem.

 

[disneygpa]

Thursday run with Donna. Happy to say she is progressing nicely!! 5.72 pain free miles!!

Looks like we are due for snow for the weekend. Going to have to play the runs by ear. Hopefully we are close enough to the Sound that it won't be too bad. More worried about running the mountain on Sunday. Could be iffy up there.

Not sure if this was some kind of anomaly or what, but my avg HR was 17bpm more than on a normal Donna run. Just making a note about it here. Might have just been goofy readings from the Garmin.

 

[disneygpa]

Started snowing up here Friday.

Woke up to about 6 inches Saturday morning. We tried to go out for a run but found it to be a bit difficult to run in the snow. Called it a day after 1.25 miles. Went home and watched it snow at least another 6 inches. I know that a foot of snow isn't much in some areas. But we have crap for snow removal around here and it meant for horrible sidewalks and roads.

Sunday was supposed to be 18 miles on the trail. That didn't happen. Now I'm not sure what to do. It's supposed to rain and be warmish for the next few days. @DopeyBadger Billy, should I try and get that trail run in maybe Wednesday? Or should I just skip it and get back to the trail on the 28th? ugh.... I hate snow.....

 

[DopeyBadger]

Sunday was supposed to be 18 miles on the trail. That didn't happen. Now I'm not sure what to do. It's supposed to rain and be warmish for the next few days. @DopeyBadger Billy, should I try and get that trail run in maybe Wednesday? Or should I just skip it and get back to the trail on the 28th? ugh.... I hate snow.....

Can you give me an overview of all of the trail training runs to date? From what I'm seeing on Strava, we're missing the 1/3 run, your doubles on Donna weekends have been down because of her injury, and now the 2/14 run went down. Is that correct? At first blush, I'd say if you can get out on the trail mid-week, then great. If so, we'd probably want to push the 2/28 or 3/1 run into mid-week as well and also drop down the distance of that run. How feasible is it to get these last two runs in on weekdays?

 

[disneygpa]

Can you give me an overview of all of the trail training runs to date? From what I'm seeing on Strava, we're missing the 1/3 run, your doubles on Donna weekends have been down because of her injury, and now the 2/14 run went down. Is that correct? At first blush, I'd say if you can get out on the trail mid-week, then great. If so, we'd probably want to push the 2/28 or 3/1 run into mid-week as well and also drop down the distance of that run. How feasible is it to get these last two runs in on weekdays?

The 1/3 run was changed because I was still in FL.

I'm going to try and do the forward 18 miles on Wednesday. Temps are supposed to be pretty mild over the next 48 hours which should lead to most of the low land snow being melted. I may still run into some snow at the top, but I can deal with that.

I can probably push the 2/28 also to Wednesday 3/3. I'll just have to burn some vacation time to do all of these mid-week.

I was thinking I might try and get an hour in tonight at EA so about 5 easy miles. Then Donna's 3 miles on Tuesday. 18 trail forward on Wednesday. 1.5 miles with Donna on Thursday. Then her 10k and half on Sat/Sun.

Does that sound about right for this week? Then we can figure out where to go from there?

 

[disneygpa]

Monday run. Talk about a sloppy slushy run!!! Sidewalks were impossible so I ran on the roads. The main roads were in pretty good shape and mostly plowed to the fog lines. The neighborhoods were another story. Stayed on the roads. These were just slushy. Splashed myself with cold water with almost every step. Managed a pretty easy 5.39 miles.



Weather forecast says that we are supposed to be in the mid 40's today with lots of rain. Hopefully this will continue to melt off most of the snow. I am having my doubts about my ability to get on the trail come Wednesday. I'm basically at sea level and if the snow in my yard is still covering the ground, I'm guessing that the trail won't be any better. Having said that, my plan is to still go up Wednesday morning and put eyes on the trail. If the first mile or so is decent I'm going to give it a shot.

My back up plan is to go run the 18 miles at Lake Padden. It's a roughly 2.5 mile loop, so I'm guessing something like 7 loops around the lake. Not going to be nearly as much elevation gain but at least I can get the time in. Thoughts on the back up plan Billy? @DopeyBadger Maybe I should try and run this at LR pace?

 

[DopeyBadger]

My back up plan is to go run the 18 miles at Lake Padden. It's a roughly 2.5 mile loop, so I'm guessing something like 7 loops around the lake. Not going to be nearly as much elevation gain but at least I can get the time in. Thoughts on the back up plan Billy? @DopeyBadger Maybe I should try and run this at LR pace?

Run it at EA or WU pace. That's the goal effort level with the trail runs thus far. A 13 min/mile unadjusted for elevation pace.

 

[disneygpa]

Mid week long run! After surveying the situation at the bottom of the trailhead I decided the risk was too great to try and run Chuckanut yesterday. It was still very snow covered and given the fact that I'd be up there alone I decided to not risk running it on Wednesday. Went to back up plan and ran around Lake Padden. I'm not really sure if this trail was much better. In some places it was solid ice and in others it was just slush. As the morning grew toward noon, the trail conditions worsened and what was frozen was now puddles of frozen ice water and the slush was just flat out slippery.

Run was pretty good. Averaged around 12:27, a little faster than planned but on the portions of the trail that weren't crap it was hard to run slow. Garmin looks like it got lost a couple times. I'm 100% certain I did not run mile 12 @ 9:13 also certain that mile 13 was not 15:38.

Nutrition was same as always. Peanut butter toast and water prior to heading out, first GU at 45 min and then one every 30 min after that. Water with every GU and when needed.

Felt better at the end of this run than the last trail run. Hips were fatigued, I suspect mostly from the added slipping in the slush on the hills. Bottom line is that 18 miles with 1,000 ft of elevation gain is easier than 14 miles with 4,200 ft of elevation gain.

Today I'm feeling pretty good. Got up and stretched before heading to work. Though I really wanted that extra half hour of sleep.



Moving forward. @DopeyBadger Billy, your thoughts on going back to the originally scheduled runs from here on out? (barring any more snow of course) Would running 18 on the trail on 2/28 be out of the question?

I'd like to just get back on the original training schedule and stick to it.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Let’s see how the next few days feel and then revisit the idea of 2/28.

 

[disneygpa]

Let’s see how the next few days feel and then revisit the idea of 2/28.

Sounds good! I feel surprisingly good for running 18 miles yesterday. Just a little tightness in my legs but nothing horrible.

 

[disneygpa]

Thursday run. Something a little different happened last night. It was supposed to be 1.5 easy miles run/walk with Donna. As we started the first run interval she asked if I minded if we just try to run the 1.5 miles instead of run/walking. She said she just wanted to see if she could do it. I said I thought it would be ok and we started jogging. Well, I'm happy to say she ran the full 1.5 miles at about my EA pace. She said she felt like she could have gone farther and that there was no IT band pain. I'm really proud of her! Could this be the beginning of a full time runner???? Maybe. She says she still likes the run/walking and I can understand that. Not nearly as much fatigue doing that. But maybe, just maybe she'll try to run a 5k. Then she'll be hooked! (insert maniacal laugh here) Either way, I'm good. Proud of her for testing herself. Especially after a long day of packing.



We sign on our apartment tonight. Going to start moving things in tonight, stuff that we don't really want the movers to move. Plants, some special memories and things like that. Movers come on Sunday. Going to be a busy weekend as I am also working and we have plans to do the 10k and half this weekend as scheduled. We are suppose to close on the sale come Tuesday. With the way things are at work right now, I may accelerate my retirement plans to this fall. Still up in the air about it. I'd planned on staying until 56. But, it just isn't a great place to work anymore.

Anyway, running helps keep me sane... just sayin.